TEHRAN- Some of the Persian Gulf Arab states stand accused of complicity in Israel’s brutal onslaught on the Gaza Strip over their ties with the Tel Aviv regime.

These states have explicitly condemned Israel for its genocidal war on the besieged territory which has claimed the lives of around 38,000 Palestinians over the past nine months.   

However, they have maintained relations with Israel and turned a blind eye to growing domestic calls to sever ties with the apartheid regime.  

On Monday, the Middle East Eye released a report which implicated the United Arab Emirates in weapons supplies to Israel against the backdrop of the regime’s carnage in Gaza.  

The UK-based news website revealed that Serbia’s main state-owned arms trader, Yugoimport-SDPR, which recently exported over $17 million worth of weapons to Israel, has developed ties with the UAE. 

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, cash-strapped Serbia sought billions in loans from the UAE in 2013. It courted Emirati investment, including in the arms industry.

The MEE report said Belgrade and Abu Dhabi announced their first arms deal in 2013 which was worth over $200 million. 

Citing the Serbian Defense Ministry, the report said the SDPR also signed an agreement with the UAE in 2022 to sell “a significant amount of ammunition” to the Persian Gulf country. 

The findings further suggested that Serbian arms maker, Krusik, which has close links to the SDPR, also reached a deal with Saudi Arabi in 2018 and sent arms to the Kingdom. 

The UAE and Bahrain deepened ties with Israel after signing the US-mediated Abraham Accords in September 2020. Later Morocco and Sudan joined the two Persian Gulf states and normalized relations with Israel. 

The Abraham Accords brought clandestine ties between Arab countries and Israel to the fore. Saudi Arabia was also in talks to formalize relations with Israel. But, Israel’s October 7 war on Gaza delayed the negotiations. 

Nonetheless, US media revealed in June that General Herzi Halevi, the chief of the general staff of the Israeli military, and US CENTCOM Commander, General Michael Erik Kurilla, held talks with senior generals from several Arab militaries in Bahrain. 

According to Axios, military officials from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain and the UAE met with the Israeli and American top generals. 

The meetings were interpreted as a stab in the back of Palestinians and their cause. This was due to resentment against Israel and the US over its unwavering support for the regime of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Last month, a report by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics showed that exports from the UAE, Egypt and Jordan to Israel have increased in 2024 compared to the previous year. 

Such facts and figures have highlighted the duplicity of Arab states as Israel continues its war of genocide on Gaza. 

On the one hand, Arab states denounce Israel for massacring people in Gaza. On the other, they promote ties with the bogus entity.  

People in the Arab world have regularly held protests or used social media to vent their anger at Israel’s brutalities in Gaza. They have demanded their governments break off relations with Israel.

Hence, Arab states make public criticism of Israel to distract attention away from their complicity in Israel’s atrocities in Gaza. 

It now seems some Arab leaders are serving as pawns of Israel and the United States.